What Are You? - video installation at the Do It! exhibition

The artist Tejal Shah comes from a place where there are still untouchables (Dalits) and people st anding
on their heads (practice shirsasana - an inver ted yoga position). Her works usually deal with political
issues, and she is one of the f irst in India to address queer theories and the related issues of gender
in an engaging and visually appealing manner. In her video installation What Are You? Shah creates
per formative conceptual space that draws the viewer into the discourse of equal opportunities. The
video in which everything weird is right expresses an ironic vision of utopia – the utopia of per version
– articulated via various visual techniques – such as document aries, video clips and samples. In India,
according to the tradition of Vedantic culture, transse xuals are a third sex – neither male nor female,
but something more. But despite eminent heritage, the hijras were, from middle 19th century onwards
under the dominion of the British, pushed t o the ver y margins of society. It was only in late 1990s that
some from this community finally succeeded in making their way into influential political circles.

The exhibition will be open between 7 pm and midnight every day from 7th to 14th October.